Methylmercury neurotoxicity in Amazonian children downstream from gold mining
Methylmercury neurotoxicity in Amazonian children downstream from gold mining
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DOI：
10.2307/3434402
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发表时间：
1999-07-01
影响因子：
10.4
通讯作者：
Santos, ECD
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Grandjean, P;White, RF;Santos, ECD
在亚马逊盆地广泛的非正规金矿开采中，汞被用来捕获金颗粒，形成汞合金。汞向环境中的排放导致淡水鱼受到甲基汞的污染。在四个可比较的亚马逊社区，我们检查了420名7至12岁的合格儿童中的351名。在接触汞最多的三个塔帕霍斯村庄，246名儿童中有80%以上的儿童头发汞浓度超过10微克/克，超过这一限度可能会对大脑发育产生不利影响。运动功能，注意力和视觉空间表现的神经心理学测试显示与头发汞浓度相关的递减。特别是在圣安娜表格板和斯坦福-比奈抄写测试中，类似的关联在来自接触量最低的村庄的105名儿童中也很明显，其中除了两名儿童外，所有儿童的头发汞浓度都低于10微克/克。尽管近年来平均暴露水平可能没有变化，但产前暴露水平是未知的，并且无法从该横断面研究中得出确切的剂量关系。然而，目前的汞污染似乎严重到足以对大脑发育造成不利影响。
In widespread informal gold mining in the Amazon Basin, mercury is used to capture the gold particles as amalgam. Releases of mercury to the environment have resulted in the contamination of freshwater fish with methylmercury. In four comparable Amazonian communities, we examined 351 of 420 eligible children between 7 and 12 years of age. In three Tapajos villages with the highest exposures, more than 80% of 246 children had hair-mercury concentrations above 10 mu g/g, a limit above which adverse effects on brain development are likely to occur. Neuropsychological tests of motor function, attention, and visuospatial performance showed decrements associated with the hair-mercury concentrations. Especially on the Santa Ana form board and the Stanford-Binet copying tests, similar associations were also apparent in the 105 children from the village with the lowest exposures, where all but two children had hair-mercury concentrations below 10 mu g/g. Although average exposure levels may not have changed during recent years, prenatal exposure levels are unknown, and exact dose relationships cannot be generated from this cross-sectional study. However, the current mercury pollution seems sufficiently severe to cause adverse effects on brain development.